The Story Scroll
by chiheerios
Summary: Toph buys a scroll and Aang reads it to her. Taang. Fluffy one-shot.


**a/n; wow, I haven't written Avatar in a long time. This is dedicated to my friend who got me back into Avatar! (Flameo Maria, flameo!)**

Toph looked at the scroll in her lap.

Well, not so much looked as stared blanky at it through her unseeing orbs. Really, she was cursing herself for buying the scroll, knowing fully well she wouldn't be able to read it, but there was a reason she needed the scroll. And that reason was because everyone had been talking about it.

The new 'rage' throughout the Earth Kingdom was this story about a young girl who went through the woods and encountered three trials given to her by a sly lemur. Everyone had been talking about this story, including the members of Toph's own group of friends, but whenever she asked about it, they were always too busy to spare a little time for her. It was only out of pure frustration that she purchased the scroll that she wasn't even able to read.

She sat in silent resentment of the scroll for a few minutes longer before rolling it up and tossing it aside.

"Stupid scroll. Stupid people not telling me the stupid story and making me buy the stupid scroll that I can't read." Toph kicked at the ground with her foot and a few rocks sprung up.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!"

She emphasized each word with a punch and sent a rock flying into a nearby tree.

Toph kept this up for a few minutes before growing decidedly bored of taking out her anger on a nearby tree. She got up and shuffled back over to where she threw the scroll and picked it up, almost wishing she could see so she could read the scroll.

She stood there for a moment before she felt light, dainty footsteps pirouetting behind her.

"I know it's you, Twinkletoes. Don't even try to hide from me when you know I can see you."

Aang must've heeded her words because she felt the ghost of his footsteps pad towards her with each and every passing second. She finally felt his footsteps stop beside her. She was still clutching the scroll.

"What were you doing, sneaking up on me like that?" she put her hands on her hips and jutted her neck towards him in an intimidating fashion. Aang laughed nervously and pulled at his collar.

"Well, I…uh, heard you earthbending, so I came to see what was up with you."

She rolled her eyes at his feeble reply, "In case you forgot, Twinkletoes, I am an earthbender. It shouldn't be a shock to you to find me earthbending. Plus, I am your earthbending teacher."

"Yes, but when you earthbend, you don't usually chant 'Stupid' over and over again. Not even at me when I mess up…usually."

Toph suppressed a chuckle at his response and decided to open up to him.

"Oh. You heard that. Well, it's really none of your buzzard wasp's wax, but I guess I'll tell you." she flexed her fingers and ran a hand through her messy bun. "Well, you know that story everyone is talking about? No one will tell me the story, so I went into town and bought the scroll. The only thing is, I can't read it!" she kicked the dirt bitterly and slumped down against the rock at her feet.

Aang took a seat next to her.

"You know, Toph, I can read it to you."

Her eyes widened a little and she held the scroll tighter in her hands.

"You…you don't need to do that."

Aang laughed. Toph found she really liked his laugh. It was reminiscent of a wind chime to her.

"I want to do it, though." he said, reaching over her to unwrap her fingers from around the scroll. He pried them off one by one and took the scroll from her grasp and unfurled it.

"I'm gonna start reading it now." he said.

"Go on, you're not getting any younger prolonging it."

Aang laughed at her comment and began to read.

"_Hua Mei was an exceptionally smart girl…"_

A few hours later Aang finished the scroll and rolled it back up.

_ "The end."_

Toph, who had been leaning against Aang turned to look at him.

"Well, that was a pretty good story. Not great, but pretty good."

Aang snorted, "That's an understatement, Toph. I saw the way your eyes widened and shined when Hua Mei solved the deadly riddle and crossed the canyon crawler gorge."

Toph blushed faintly at the fact he had noticed those little details about it. Sure, she did like the story-in fact, she was enthralled by it, but it was mostly the soothing, even tone of Aang's voice that made her like the story so much more.

"So, what was your favorite part of the story?"

Toph was snapped out of her reverie by Aang, who was leaning forward on his knees, head held in his palms.

"Me? I uh…I liked when Hua Mei crossed the gorge. Of course, she'd use earthbending to propel herself across the gorge when she couldn't make a bridge. It's exactly what I would've done." she replied proudly, "What about you, Twinkletoes?"

Aang pondered the question for a moment before replying.

"I think…I like the part where Hua Mei has Wan Li to go to the ball with her by making him do a dare."

Toph snickered, "Wow, Twinkles, didn't think you'd be into the tough and slightly brutal love thing."

"Well, I am because it's the kind of love you give."

Toph froze in shock and she turned her face towards the young Avatar.

"W-what? What are you saying?"

Aang leaned in close to her face so that their noses were touching.

"I'm saying I'm okay with that kind of love because that's the kind of love you give and I love you!"

Toph was still frozen in shock and Aang decided to take his chance. He pulled back a little bit from her before kissing her lightly on the nose.

"Twinkles, I mean…Aang, why…" Toph stammered. Her heart was racing so much and pounding so hard, she swore even the most inept person could hear it.

"Like, I said Toph, I love you! Now come on, let's go back to camp and eat. After dinner, I can tell you another story if you want." He extended a hand to her which she took. She wasn't sure why. She was capable of getting up on her own. She let Aang hold her hand all the way back to camp.

**a/n;**

**I think my avatar writing skills are super rusty, but this was really fun to write! I tried to keep Toph and Aang as in character as possible, but wow, I hope I didn't get too OOC. I feel like I did!**

**Thank you for reading! Reviews are much appreciated!**

**Thanks again to Maria for inspiring me ****J**


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